


Push and Pull

by sottovocexo



Category: Mako Mermaids
Genre: F/M, Spoilers, Unrequited Crush
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-19
Updated: 2018-09-19
Packaged: 2019-07-14 13:23:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 790
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16041329
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sottovocexo/pseuds/sottovocexo
Summary: A look in two parts at Zac and Lyla's relationship.





	1. It's Not Good to Be Alone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just before Zac’s second full moon in the show, he shares another dream he had with Lyla. Takes place before he knows the girls are mermaids.

After Cam slammed the door to Zac’s shack, fuming at the girls’ new alliance with his best friend, Nixie and Sirena followed after him, ensuring he was out of sight. 

Lyla stayed inside, stayed with Zac, tending to the rest of the blackout shades. 

“I...had another dream last night,” Zac said, stepping away from the window, a few steps closer to Lyla.

“About the night you transformed?” she asked. 

“Uh...no,” he said. “Not this time. I had a dream...we were swimming together.” He looked away.

“Oh?” 

“Yeah...we were in the ocean,” he said, glimpses of the dream returning to him then, the sun bouncing off the waves, their smiles. Her blue eyes on him. “But...you were like me.” 

“Like you…?” Lyla asked.

“You had a tail,” he said, looking at her, smiling. “It was...pretty amazing.” 

“Sounds nice indeed,” she said, her eyes squinting into a smile. 

The rest of the dream came back to him then, her eyes as blue as the sea, her tail the color of coral and sand, swishing beside his. The two of them, arms outstretched, gliding through the water. 

Her eyes brought him back.

“It was nice not to be alone anymore,” he said as her smile fell, wishing it was nice because of her. Because it could be her. 

“Well, I better go check on Nixie and Sirena, make sure Cam’s gone.” She started quickly, cut off the rest of his dream.

The vision of her tail was like ripples in his mind, shimmering, fading.

“The full moon is really powerful...clearly it’s got quite a hold on you,” she added, her hand on the doorknob, always one to get the last hurt in.

“Oh, yeah...I suppose,” he said, his broad smile fading too.

Lyla shut the door behind her.

“Everything okay?” Nixie asked.

“Yeah, what’s going on?” Sirena said.

“I don’t know how much longer I can do this,” Lyla said, a tear on her cheek. “How much longer I can keep our secret from him. We’re like him! And he’s like us… He’s so lonely keeping his secret, and I’m glad he came to trust us, but… I’m lonely too.” Their pod was gone, and as hopeful as she was, she hid her anxieties from the girls. She knew they would never get the pod back. It was only the three of them now. Was it enough? 

She thought of what his dream must have looked like, having someone to swim with. Having Zac.

“We can’t tell him,” Nixie said. “He trusts us, but...he can’t know.”

“He can never know,” Sirena whispered.

And so she could never know what they would look like, tails side by side. His smile broad and the sun’s glint in his eye.


	2. Ode to the Tides

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the events of season one, Lyla tells Zac she’s departing to find her pod, leaving her feelings unspoken and her crush unrequited.

“What do you mean you’re leaving?” Zac and Lyla were perched at the edge of the water. He hunched over when she told him she’d be going to look for their pod. Going away. 

“I leave tomorrow,” she said, her face straight, her eyes trained on the water so as not to rethink her decision.

Zac groaned. “Lyla, I don’t understand. Don’t we mean anything to you?”

“Of course!” she said. She stood up, pacing behind him. “It’s just...our pod is our everything. You can’t understand...”

“Don’t tell me that! I know how important a pod is.” He jumped up, taking her hands in his. “I’ve found mine. I don’t know how to do this without you. Lyla, please.”

“My mind’s made up, Zac,” she said, when she really meant he could change her mind. He only had to ask her to stay. If only he knew.

“I can’t believe you’re leaving me.” 

“You’re going to be fine. You still have Cam and Sirena and...”

“Evie,” Zac finished.

“Yes. Of course.” Lyla pulled her hands away, drew herself up to the water.

“So this is it?”

“It isn’t goodbye...for good,” Lyla said, daring a peek back at Zac, his brow pinched, his eyebrows furrowed. 

“Listen...it’s like this,” she said, finding one more lesson inside her to impart on Zac. “It’s just like the ocean. It pushes away and pulls together.” She took his hand, one last time. “It brought us together once.” She thought of when he crashed into the moon pool, a tidal wave with life-changing ripples. “Then, it pushed my pod away,” she whispered, thinking of her heart pulling apart when they left. “I’m going to find them. The ocean will bring me to where they are. I know it. And finally...I know we’ll drift together again. It’s not such a big ocean,” she teased with a smile, mustering a shred of hope, the courage to dive and one last goodbye.


End file.
